Full-Time Senior Center Coordinator Proposed In Avon

AVON — A small spending increase tucked away in the budget proposed for the upcoming fiscal year would mean more hours at the senior center and services for the people who use it.

The coordinator of the senior center is a part-time position and the town council is proposing that it become full-time, something that people who use the center have pushed for since last year. The center is open Monday through Thursday, with more hours for the coordinator the center would be open on Fridays as well, said center Coordinator Jennifer Bennett.

Bennett said the town senior center is the only one in the Farmington Valley that is not open on Fridays. She said she sees tremendous demand for being open the additional day.

"When I come in on Mondays there are tons of messages left our voice mail from Friday," Bennett said. "Being open on Fridays would offer us another opportunity to do more programs. We could do more trips, we could do more with expressive arts, we could do more intergenerational activities."

Bennett said she would like the center to be accredited by the National Institute of Senior Centers, which is not possible with part-time staff and being open just four days a week. Adding more hours also opens up opportunities to obtain grants that are available only to centers that are open full-time, Benneft said.

Making the coordinator's position full time is expected to cost $41,245 in additional salary and benefits, according to town documents.

There are no full-time staff at the center. Bennett works Monday through Thursday, although she said she often juggles her hours so she can run programs on Fridays, nights and weekends. There is also an administrative assistant who works Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and the hours for that position would remain unchanged.

Bennett said she has seen the need for the center to be open five days a week since she became coordinator seven years ago. Gloria Farrell, a member of the town's committee on aging and a former senior center coordinator, said talk about having the position full-time goes back longer than that.

"This is something that has gone on for a while," Farrell said. "It would be good to have a full-time coordinator, it provides consistency and stability."

People who use the center submitted a petition last year asking that Bennett be made full-time. The request was not funded then but the lobbying continued.

Diane Carney spoke to the council in support of having a full-time coordinator in December. She said in an interview that she began lobbying town officials about the issue early in 2013. Carney said what got her interested was having to go to other centers on Fridays. In addition to having to leave town, she said she noticed that other centers are in better shape than Avon's.

"This town has money for other things, we should spend some money on the senior center," Carney said.

Council Chairman Mark Zacchio said the council wanted more time to study the issue but is ready to move now.

"We know the use is there and that attendance will be high," Zacchio said. "The demographics are moving in that direction and I think it would only be a matter of time before we did this."

The spending for the senior center is part of an $83.88 million budget that the council is proposing for the 2014-2015 fiscal year. That plan will now be reviewed by the board of finance.